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Trans-Siberian Orchestra - The Christmas Attic  CD (album) cover

THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

 

Crossover Prog

2.70 | 53 ratings

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The Crow
Prog Reviewer
3 stars Second part of TSO's Christmas trilogy!

After the success of the first entry, Paul O'Neill and the guys from Savatage decided to make a second effort while they recorded their fabulous The Wake of Magellan. So, in terms of production both albums sound very similar and they contain the trademarks of the band like the wonderful piano melodies, the typical guitar crescendos, great vocals and polyphonic chorus, being The Wake of Magellan the heavy side of the band and The Christmas Attic the mellower one, just like Dead Winter Dead and Christmas Eve and Other Stories were also very related in style and sound.

But despite a pair of truly good moments, The Christmas Attic it's maybe the less inspired of the Christmas Trilogy because a pair of truly cheesy songs like The Three Kings and I or The Music Box. For my taste most of the singed songs are not at the same level as the instrumental ones, which are normally the best songs of the TSO's Christmas albums anyway.

Best tracks: Boughs of Holly (a fine instrumental song with all the Savatage/TSO trademarks!), Christmas in the Air (a song singed by the great interpreter Jody Asworth which introduces the style of Beethoven's Last Night) and Appalachian Snowfall (another fine instrumental)

Conclusion: despite its weak moments The Christmas Attic is another good hard rock-prog-symphonic Christmas album by Savatage's side band Trans-Siberian Orchestra which contains another outstanding neo-classical work of the very talented guitarist Al Pitrelli and a pair of fine compositions of Jon Oliva and the very missed Paul O'Neill.

My rating: ***

The Crow | 3/5 |

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